


Una Notte

by Bravehardt, Foxglove_Fiction



Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Costume Parties & Masquerades, Fluff, Getting Together, M/M, New Year's Eve, New Year's Kiss, Pining, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-31
Updated: 2019-12-31
Packaged: 2021-02-27 16:21:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22050022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bravehardt/pseuds/Bravehardt, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Foxglove_Fiction/pseuds/Foxglove_Fiction
Summary: The new year represents opportunities for a fresh start - a chance to shed the figurative chrysalis of last year’s burdens and usher in new possibilities and the potential for annual rebirth.A Venetian inspired masquerade could do nothing better than allow those the fortune to wipe their slate clean, start anew, and completely remove the inhibitions of one’s true desires with the guise of anonymity. Some take this tradition much more informally, while others use this grace to explore something deeper and more meaningful without the wrought of past preconceptions.
Relationships: Tony Stark/Stephen Strange
Comments: 12
Kudos: 109





	Una Notte

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! We didn't end up sneaking in a Christmas fic, but we did manage to do a small little New Year's story <3 Originally planned as one of our Halloween ideas and then Amy proposed it would be better used for new years, and I definitely agree. So here's our little contribution to the new year, and we hope you all have a wonderful rest of 2019! And all of our best wishes starting 2020! Thank you for indulging in our stories over the last year!

Another year came and went, with each threat that the world faced no less than that which came before it. Christmas had been uneventful, as usual, but if there was any day to leave a mark in the year, it was the eve of the new year. 

At least, that was where Tony felt he could shine.

Family gatherings honestly weren't really much of his thing, especially given he had no family to celebrate it with. 

Sure, Tony had friends but then there was being in a spot of an imposition to them.

At least with new years, Tony was able to throw a party of a magnitude to match his charisma, considering that entertaining and rallying people was his specialty, and what greater opportunity than a Venetian themed masquerade in celebration for the arrival of the new year?

Masquerades were a fascinating, funny thing. 

An old Venetian tradition where people dress up in decorated gowns and masks. People hiding their identities and partaking in a night of mystery, much like Halloween, but the October tradition was something more for the kids in his opinion.

Just about anything could happen on these nights, as the soul tends to speak loudest when the veil of human identity isn't a variable in its way via expression. Although people's personalities tended to bleed through with their choice of front, there's still a flavour of anonymity to the event which bolsters people's confidence in a way and dissolves most inhibitions.

Tony hadn't put too much into his disguise in terms of hiding his own identity, which would have contradicted his otherwise indomitable, loud and boyish nature. 

No, he let the party itself speak volumes on his behalf, rather than his costume - which was a simple domino mask, checkered and decorated in gold and black, bright tarnished silver leaf wrapping around the edges and interlocking with musical notes on one side. The entire scheme was brought together over a white-gold base, large protruding white-ribbed horns set on the corners just above his brows curling upwards.

He wore this along with a simple white tuxedo and a similarly decorated silver broach to match. There was never any question among the crowd that the man with the brown salt and pepper goatee, sipping a glass of whiskey was Tony Stark. His presence was larger than life, even if his attitude at the moment wasn't.

He'd parked himself near Bruce who was clad in something akin to a jester ensemble, and Colonel Rhodes with the moon-domino mask near the lounge chairs in the compound's main foyer, where most functions were held considering its open space.

"It's always interesting to see the work people put into their costumes at these things," Tony mused, the comment in passing directed to Rhodes who wasn't entirely as decorated himself, while Bruce had gone all out with an old 18th-century garb he'd rented from a prop store.

“People have varying budgets, free time, or energy for these kinds of things,” Bruce shrugged a little bit as he sipped at his cranberry cocktail. “I’m just glad no one showed up in one of those giant banana suits. Those things make me really uncomfortable.”

“Says the man dressed as a clown,” Rhodey teased, “you know people are terrified of clowns, right?”

“A jester isn’t a clown,” Bruce retorted from behind his mask, rolling his eyes a little but smiling nevertheless.

Tony chuckled as he leaned back into his seat, scanning the rest of the room thoughtfully. He could figure out some of the people in the crowd easily enough, as there were a number of simply costumed and masked individuals gathered around. 

Thor had clearly misunderstood how things worked as he’d donned what might’ve been a monocle for all it covered of his face. Beside him, Pepper’s hair and the red soles of her shoes gave her away. That could’ve been Tony’s familiarity with her, truth be told, as he couldn’t see her mask or the rest of her costume very well.

“Looking for someone, Tony?” Rhodey inquired as he nudged Tony gently.

"Just people-watching," he hummed softly as he kept his eyes on the crowd, lifting his glass to his lips.

There were people he was expecting to show up and people he knew would show up regardless of invitation or not. They would no-less find their way there like Loki, or Peter, despite this being an 18 and over event. But the kid did earn it, and he knew Pete was responsible.

Then there were people he knew wouldn't show up despite the invitation. Some - or someone specific - he hoped would show.

He was holding his breath, but the sensible side of him knew the odds were slim to none.

He was the kind of person who dared to take down some of Earth's most formidable adversaries, rode a nuclear missile through a wormhole into space and said goodbye to everything he'd ever known on a whim to save his planet, and fought some of the most daunting organizations on Earth - like Hydra and Shield.

On top of that, he’d caught a flying donut into space risking certain death to kill the universe's worst tyrant and all without a second thought.

That was courage, that was heroisom - Tony Stark was near indomitable.

_ Except when it came to matters of the heart. _

He had all the swagger to pull women and men alike into bed with him, but when it came to matters of actual  _ feelings _ for another, he was nearly numbed by the fear of rejection.

Why couldn't he simply tell him?

“Maybe instead of watching people you should go join them?” his best friend urged softly, nudging him once more even as Tony curled into himself a little bit.

“I did my part. I just want to watch people enjoying themselves tonight,” Tony murmured in response, glancing over at Rhodey. “Where’s Carol? Don’t tell me you’re not asking her to dance.”

“Dance? With my leg? There’s a lot the brace lets me do, but dancing isn’t exactly one of those things,” Rhodey chuckled lightly. “We tried. It was a mess, and we broke the coffee table.”

“Careful, you might get in trouble for oversharing,” Tony teased, and Bruce chuckled a bit as he sipped at his drink.

He’d been through a lot over the last couple of decades. All of them had. Seeing everyone letting loose was a good feeling and yet Tony still struggled to feel like a part of it - or like he was allowed to participate. This was their happiness - the happiness they deserved after everything that had happened. It was time to relax and bask in revelry.

“Well, I’m going to dance,” Bruce stated as he got to his feet.

“You can dance?” Rhodey inquired playfully, and Bruce grinned back at him.

“Not well, but it looks like there are plenty of others who are equally just as bad, just going to let loose and have fun. If I have to motivate you by setting an example, then I guess I’ll have to take one for the team.”

Tony snickered under his breath as Bruce made his way to the dance floor, joining Nat and a few other women of their group he could identify. They parted for Bruce as he amalgamated into the small swaying circle.

"You know, dancing doesn't just have to be in the legs, you're going to have one pretty disappointed cosmic wonder girl if you don't at least try gumdrop," Tony nudged the colonel forwards.

"Hey, if I do that then there's no one left to stop you from being a wallflower at your own party," the colonel added.

"I'm enjoying myself plenty watching all of you." And he was, seeing everyone revelling in the approaching new year did bring him some joy, despite there being the distinct lack of one (1) fantastical sorcerer.

Shuri's costume was impressive, something royal, embellished in browns and yellows. The aesthetic of the Wakandan design made it a little more challenging to distinguish the animal (and he cheated and asked Friday) to determine she was a gazelle if the large horns weren't enough of a tell.

_ Not bad. _

T'challa, contrary to the obvious, dressed with his date as Gemini stars, embellished and decorated - he expected nothing less from the Wakandan prince.

As Tony continued to scan the crowd he noticed one costume, in particular, that he didn't recognize, but was striking nonetheless.

There were many people he could think of who might don a lion-esque costume. He supposed it would suit Thor, though he’d already spotted Thor earlier, or Steve, who’d been convinced to wear a star-spangled mask that was hilarious but also tasteful and well crafted. 

There was a distinct lack of a tell with this person’s mask - in fact, whoever they were, they’d covered themselves head to toe in their attire, from the seemingly metallic mask that covered their head, a high-necked red doublet that was embroidered with simple but stunning lions, accented in a dark blue - or maybe black around the edges. Black ribbon laced up the front of the doublet, and black gloves covered the other’s hands as they -  _ he _ most likely, given their height - swung someone around in an excitable dance to the sounds of some peppy pop song from the last decade or so.

He took his time to go through a mental checklist, glancing around to find people and cross them off his list, and while doing so he managed to lose track of the lion until a black velvet glove was offered to him. “I hope you don’t mind, Colonel, but I’d rather like to borrow our host if I may.”

“Please. He refuses to have fun,” Rhodey offered on Tony’s behalf, and the mogul gave the pair a look of confusion.

“Ah, I’m really fine just here.”

“If you’re fine here, then I expect you’ll be fine elsewhere as well, don’t you think?”

"Touché," Tony tilted his head towards the colonel with a hesitant look before taking the gent's hand and allowed himself to be led off. Of course, not before polishing off the leftovers of his glass and setting it down.

Sure, someone like Tony enjoyed the thrill of being whisked away by a dashing prince - he found this lovely lion quite attractive with the mystery of it all.

He was no Stephen Strange though, in no way, and all guesses, assumptions or possibilities of it being the man he'd been pining over were thrown out the door when it wasn't Stephen's voice he heard from behind the mask, but something pitched much lower and gravelly - hollow even, with the reverberation of the mask's material skewing it.

His prince charming led him over to the dance floor to join the sea of patrons, Bruce tilting his head as they passed by curiously. 

They both stopped in a sequestered area on the dance floor and Tony felt a delicate hand on his hip while the other threaded itself carefully in between his own.

_ Not Stephen's hands.  _ Was all he thought, they didn't shake, and despite how hard he tried, he couldn't see into the hollow eyes of the mask.

The only similarities this man had with the man he could have only hoped it was, would be their height alone, and despite this stranger's presence growing steadily on him -  _ it wasn't the same. _

_ It wasn't him. _

But his chest still bubbled with some semblance of growing excitement, and his flesh felt warm where the other gently rested his hand.

“You must’ve spent a long time setting all this up. I’m surprised that you’d sit to the side and not enjoy it,” the lion commented as he led Tony through a rather energetic dance. 

Tony was almost certain that “Dynamite” wasn’t meant to be danced to quite like this, but there was something oddly endearing about the other’s efforts at it anyway.

“I’m enjoying it vicariously through everyone else,” Tony responded as he was pulled in and they spun a little. “Are you planning on telling me who’s under there?”

“That would ruin the point of the mask, wouldn’t it?” the lion responded with a low chuckle. “You’re clever. You’ll figure it out…”

“And if I don’t?”

“Unmasking is at midnight, isn’t it? If you’re  _ that _ curious… but if it helps, I do have an invitation to be here. Signed by you, in fact.”

Tony wrinkled his nose at that, before rolling his eyes a little bit. 

Most of the guests had invitations signed by him, so that didn’t narrow it down much. And if, for some reason, the mystery guest was Loki… it could definitely have been a lie meant to throw him off. But there was the midnight unmasking to consider, the stranger wasn’t wrong about that.

The song passed them by and finally settled on something much slower, and Tony was drawn from his musings on the matter as the lion coiled his arm around his waist. 

He pulled the petite man in close and Tony's throat tightened as he felt the warmth of the other's body flush against his own.

He felt like he was betraying himself with the idea that he was really enjoying this, that his form fit together so well in this stranger's arms, that they were so on point with their movements as he was no alien to dancing himself.

_ They matched each other step for step. _

He swallowed the lump in his throat, he felt exposed, vulnerable even given that he was usually the man calling the shots. He was always the one making the moves and here he was with more of his face exposed, he felt like he was holding his neck out to a wild animal.

Now, he was helplessly smitten by this person whose identity remained unknown, and who seemed so confident as if he  _ knew _ Tony on a deeper level.

He cleared his throat and tried to speak once again but the stranger spoke first.

"How is that arm of yours doing?" Tony was slightly caught off guard by the conversation.

"Fine… thanks to Shuri's handiwork, the scarring wasn't nearly so bad, I came out with more than I expected from all of that," he spoke a little quieter into the other's shoulder. The stranger stayed quiet, and for a moment it felt like his hold had temporarily tightened, sending butterflies rippling through his stomach.

“Really, it’s fine,” Tony continued when the silence dragged on for a while. “Besides, even if I’d lost an arm entirely, I can’t really complain, you know? I have the technology available to do something about it. Given the state that the world is in, generally, I can’t bring myself to complain about an arm.”

“How you’re doing isn’t a competition. Others having it ‘worse’ doesn’t mean that you aren’t allowed to complain or lament the changes you’re having to endure,” the lion reasoned with some amusement.

“But it’s true. I have a roof over my head still, a house, my friends, money, my general health. Some people don’t have any of that after everything that’s happened. It’s been such a chaotic mess trying to put everything together again. There’s so much work to do to get everything running properly, and-”

“And you’ve already done your part,” the other man responded, giving him a slight squeeze. “You’ve done enough, Tony. The rest of the healing is up to the people and up to the government. It’s up to everyday heroes, not superheroes, to clean up the confusion that’s left. The people have to answer their own existential questions now. You can’t fix the problems of every man, woman and child, but you’ve given them the opportunity to be able to fix those problems themselves. You’ve given them the opportunity to try and make changes. You’ve led them to water, it’s up to them whether or not to drink.”

“Why thank you, mystery shrink,” Tony teased, turning to humour to try and pull them out of that conversation, the weight of it both stressing him out and easing it in some way.

“The first one’s free. Next time will cost you,” the lion joked in response.

“And you’re expensive I bet. What’ll it cost me next time?”

“... hmm. Why don’t you ask me that again later tonight?”

Tony narrowed his eyes, lips curling up in a small smirk.

"I'll come back to it then," he let out a soft amused puff of air, allowing himself to relax for just a moment as he leaned into this therapist-mystery-lion man.

He had so many questions, but he was also patient, especially when it came to games like these. 

Tony enjoyed the game, enjoyed the hunt.

The more he asked, the more questions he ended up, with until his thoughts drifted back to Stephen and he couldn't help but sag a little in his dashing lion's arms.

He put a gentle palm to the stranger's shoulder and pushed off of him. The man let go as Tony looked up with an apologetic expression.

"I need to get some air."

"Too hot for you?" the man's voice, laced with a degree of amusement.

"You're giving me jungle fever," he played in response before creeping off.

He didn't exactly tell the other not to follow him, nor did he expect to be followed. He grabbed a flute of champagne and went for the patio doors, not even glancing over his shoulder.

He walked by a group of smoking employees on the roof who nodded to him, Happy among them, and he made his way over to a small corner that gave him the best view of the placid landscape with the city lights in the distance.

His chest sank as he deflated in the corner, thoughts immediately going to Stephen as he let out a deep breath. 

He spent a few minutes just absorbing his thoughts, being to himself.

“Are you alright on your own like this?” the familiar voice inquired, leaving Tony to glance up at the lion mask with an odd expression that the masked man seemed to catch on easily enough. “I’m sorry, if you wanted to be on your own for a bit, I can let you be, I just figured…”

“You figured what?” Tony inquired as he sipped at his drink, watching the other with a sly smile. “Are you stalking me, mister lion?”

“Well, I am a predator by nature’s logic, stalking is rather a part of the whole thing, isn’t it?” the other responded, though he hovered in his spot for a few moments. “Jokes aside, if you need some space I can leave you be for a bit.”

Tony shrugged slightly, gesturing to a spot beside him and the other leaned against the railing to join him. 

For a time it was quiet and they stood shoulder to shoulder staring out over the grounds. The man beside him didn’t hold a drink, his fingers laced together in front of him as he looked on quietly, and Tony slowly sipped at his own champagne. 

It was almost pleasant.

“What does tonight mean to you?” the stranger asked after what might’ve been anywhere between ten and twenty minutes of quiet. He didn’t turn to look at Tony or shift any closer. The question was quiet, as though the other worried about disrupting the air around them as the smokers finished up and left only two others on the deck, quietly talking to one another.

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“What are you looking for out of tonight? You’ve arranged a masquerade - a party of truth and deception - and continue to keep yourself apart from the festive part of it all. You hosted it on New Year’s Eve, of all times… what was the purpose? The goal of it all?”

“I don’t know, a party I suppose? I thought it would be fun, does there need to be more to it?” he lied, glancing at the other man for a moment.

“I somehow doubt it’s so simple.”

"I don't have a lot of traditions to celebrate, of all those I picked, one where people could be who they are without scrutiny. I guess the idea of people being themselves behind the mask as it represents some form of chrysalis," Tony began quietly.

"It's easier to act a certain way when you hide behind anonymity, and I thought that pairing it with the rebirth of the year when people set their new years resolutions to try and improve themselves would be appropriate. 

"At midnight, the masks come off, and people transition, move towards their better self or at least what they think is the better version of themselves," Tony gave a soft laugh at how mundane he sounded.

The other stood by quietly without a word to interrupt and Tony felt the gaze of the other man bore into him as if there was more from the answer he was expecting.

“Disguising your intentions behind the charade of a public event.” Tony glanced over at him with the comment.

"I was hoping I'd see someone tonight," he started and reminding himself about it wasn't helping. 

"Someone who I'd thought this whole thing would give me the chance to see outside of just the restraints of work." He glanced over to the other man again, "I thought the idea of the new year would help, but they never showed up, and I don't know how else to muster the courage to do it," he sighed, letting his feelings start to get the better of him.

"We all have things to hide under our masks, without them it's hard to confront the truths we keep beneath them. Tony, you of all people do not strike me as anything short of the most courageous man I know," the stranger moved in closer and gently placed his hand on the engineer's shoulder.

Tony continued to gaze forward, allowing the contact for the time being.

“What would you have done if they had shown up?” the man beside him inquired softly, not pushing so much as offering someone to speak with, and Tony chuckled at that, running a hand into his hair slightly before shrugging.

“I don’t know. I often think I’ll have the guts to talk to them about stuff, about how I feel, you know? But it never ends up that way. I’m afraid to drive them away.”

“If you drive them away for expressing your feelings, then they probably don’t deserve you,” the stranger responded quietly. “You deserve someone who will value you as a person regardless.”

“Has that ever worked out for you?” Tony inquired, glancing at the masked man again curiously.

“No. I haven’t found the person who is perfect for me, yet. But I have a lot of growing to do before I’m able to give my all to the people who matter to me… but that’s where the new year comes in. New year, new me or something like that, right? That’s what people say?”

“I do feel like that’s something I’ve heard, yes,” Tony chuckled. “And this outfit of yours, is this representing all the things you need to shed when the new year rolls in?”

“It does,” the lion responded with a soft laugh of his own. “I was foolish and layered something else underneath it so I could do a proper shedding of the old ‘skin’ at midnight too, so I’m glad we’re outside. I’m still ridiculously hot.”

“Tsk, bragging now, are we?”

"Well, is it working?" Tony heard the hollow chuckle under the mask.

"Keep going..." the engineer prodded softly, laughing until he lost the mirth for it and his chuckle trailed off.

There was another long pause between the two, a silence that hung in the air as they stood in comfortable quiet.

Tony managed to completely lose track of time, and almost the company he shared. Even the arm draped over his shoulders would have gone unnoticed if it weren't for the weight of it he felt as he shifted occasionally against the railing. It's warmth blended in with his own and he couldn't help but struggle with the dichotomy of the situation.

Talking to this stranger felt so natural, but at the same time, he felt like he was forsaking some part of his feelings for them. As much as he really enjoyed sharing his time with this mystery man, it was only but a momentary distraction, a shoulder to lean on. 

He'd entertained the fleeting notion of seeing where things went with this lion. The feelings were strong but the other was seemingly struggling with his own dilemma of mind as well. 

_ Which was why he couldn’t. _

If anything, he would at least walk out of this with a new friend, or an old one realized.

So wrapped up in his own cognizance was he that he didn't hear Happy come to the balcony.

"Hey, boss, a couple of minutes until the ball drops. You coming down to watch?" the engineer in question raised an arm to wave his friend off.

"I'm good, I'll be in after. I’ve got a great view from out here." Happy nodded and rushed back inside.

“Are you sure that you don’t want to check if your mystery friend has arrived? We’ve been out here for a little while,” the lion stated softly after Happy exited again, and Tony shook his head.

“Parties aren’t really their thing, so I doubt they’ll show at all anyway. Plus, if I do that, I might lose track of you in the crowd, especially once you shed this whole get-up,” Tony pointed out, elbowing the other lightly, though he cast a brief glance towards the glass that separated them from the main hall.

_ No sign of Stephen.  _

Friday hadn’t alerted him to Stephen’s arrival… he looked at his empty champagne glass for a moment before a black velvet glove covered his hand and collected it from him.

“Well, we can’t celebrate the ball drop without champagne, can we?” he offered quietly, and Tony cast him a small smile.

“Are you offering to get me more to drink?”

“Offering? Hardly. I’m insisting,” the lion responded as he pulled away and disappeared inside, leaving Tony alone with his thoughts for a few minutes. 

It was cold, and he could see the various party lights reflecting on the snow in the yard where people were starting to accumulate, setting up some fireworks. He sighed heavily to himself as he pulled out his phone, tempted to send the sorcerer a quick text to wish him a happy new year. 

Maybe it wasn’t personal that he hadn’t arrived? Maybe he was just busy. It wasn’t like interdimensional monsters respected holidays or anything…

He pecked out a message and tucked his phone away as he heard the music get a little louder, indicating that someone had stepped outside again. 

The man in the lion mask offered a champagne flute to him as he approached.

As if it was naturally where he belonged, the lion went to put his arm around Tony's shoulders again after their brief toast. They could hear the crowd chanting from down below as the countdown began at thirty-seconds to midnight. 

He'd gotten no response from Stephen - of course, texting wasn't the sorcerer's thing either. As the numbers on the clock counted down with the joined voices of the crowd Tony couldn't help but smile, through his odd melancholy.

"Happy new year!" the resounding cheer echoed through the building. Another year done and gone, as he focused on the cacophonous boom of fireworks let loose into the dark night sky.

Tony turned to his company who suddenly collected him in his arms and the engineer felt his stomach drop, inquisitive anticipation at what the other was doing.

"I got your message," the lion tipped the mask up so it rested on the top of his head, and Tony looked up with a bewildered expression. "Though I'm an advocate of not texting within the company of others, so you'll forgive me if I don't respond right away," he chuckled softly.

Tony felt his chest run hot with a sort of surprised anxiety, heart-pounding, pulsing quickly in his chest as he stared up at the man he'd been thinking about the entire night. 

He didn't know how to process this, he had butterflies in his chest, and his mind was racing over everything that had happened, everything he'd said, everything he'd shared with the other.

Tony felt like a deer stuck in headlights, frozen on the spot and not from the cold.

The man gave him a warm smile, leaning in to kiss his cheek lightly before straightening and taking a small sip of his champagne. It was hard to say in the relative dark of the outdoors, especially when the man was backlit for the most part, until fireworks went off, but his face seemed a little bit red as he watched Tony carefully.

“Happy new year,” Stephen offered quietly. “Was it me you were waiting for? I’m flattered… but… before you say anything, if you don’t mind…”

Tony nodded silently as he tried to pull himself together, not certain what to say as he sipped at his own champagne and nearly choked on it as Stephen began to unlace his doublet.

“I need you to know how much you’ve helped me. More than I can really put into words,” the sorcerer began, his champagne set aside as he worked on the lacing which didn’t really bare anything to Tony but the nice dress shirt beneath it. 

“You’ve been an inspiration, the brightest light in some dark times, and there are a lot of things I don’t know if I could’ve pushed through without seeing the example you set. You’ve shown a rare kind of courage so often that it’s easy to see how others came to idolize you so.”

The doublet was removed and hung over the railing as Stephen picked up the champagne flute to focus on Tony again properly. “You’re an incredible human being, and I feel extremely lucky not only to know you but to be a part of your life.”

Tony felt the heat in his cheeks, and he was certain it wasn't from the alcohol. Someone needed to pinch him, he couldn't tell if he was dreaming with how fast all of this came on.

Of course, he dreamt of moments like this, it was almost as if they were right out of a fairytale.

"Stephen..." Tony eventually found his words and he set his champagne down, there were more important things at the moment. "God, my only regret is that I didn't get to say this to you first," he tipped up his own mask with a smile, gazing up at the icy blue eyes that reflected the light of the spouting fireworks in the distance.

"We just started a new year and you've already got regrets, Stark?" Stephen had a teasing smile. "Tsk,tsk!"

"I'm not going to forgive you for this one," he zested.

"I'm sure you could find it in your heart," the sorcerer peered down at him with an endearing smile. 

“So what will it cost me?” Tony found his smile, ear-to-ear as he looked up at Stephen.

“A New Year's kiss.”

Tony was tired of staring at that smile anyways, and it was instinctual as he grabbed hold of Stephen's cheeks in a rush and stood up on his tippy-toes to meet him in a kiss he’d only been wanting to give to the sorcerer for far too long.

Stephen’s arms wrapped around Tony’s waist to hold him closer as he indulged the brunette in his kiss. 

The fireworks continued going off around them, and the crowd below was whooping their pleasure at the bright lights and loud pops of celebration, but Tony was focused entirely on the moment and the man in his arms. 

His hands finally slid down and he looped his own arms around the sorcerer’s neck to keep him from going anywhere, only startled out of the kiss when one of the fireworks seemed to go off a little too close for comfort.

Tony jerked back a bit to look for the source, snapping out of the shock and chuckling to himself as he relaxed with his cheek against Stephen’s shoulder. The doctor pressed a kiss to the top of his head and lightly brushed his nose into the mogul’s hair.

“Well… this isn’t exactly how I expected tonight to go.”

“I’d hoped that it might,” Stephen responded.

“Didn’t you say something about shedding a chrysalis…?” the engineer murmured softly against the sorcerer’s chest, peering up at him. 

Stephen glanced back down with a raised eyebrow.

“Yes, thus the removal of the mask and doublet.”

Tony’s fingers traced playfully over Stephen’s dress shirt and he hummed at that. “Would you be terribly opposed to… maybe shedding the  _ rest _ of that chrysalis, too?”

“... Are you asking me to get naked?” Stephen’s lips twitched into a small smirk.

“Maybe. And if you’re not into it, the alcohol made me ask.”

“ _ I might be convinced. _ ” 

**Author's Note:**

> This story was co-written by two authors from start to finish. You can find us on Twitter:
> 
> [Amy (Foxglove)](https://twitter.com/marvelwizardmom)  
> [Astral (Bravehardt)](https://twitter.com/Kraionis)


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